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Karen Barad decouples from capitalism, proposing the theory of intra-action, which counters the idea that the universe is founded on individual matter as opposed to matter in relationship with another. Intra-action posits that agency (the ability to act) comes from human and non-human actants in relationship with each other. Barad’s theory is based on the research of Nobel physicist Niels Bohr, who believed that “things do not have inherently determinate boundaries or properties, and words do not have inherently determinate meanings'' (813). If things have no determinate boundaries, we cannot uphold a culture of strict dichotomies in which humans and nature are pitted against one another. Accepting Bohr’s findings, it becomes possible to envision a world where there is no dichotomy or hierarchy between humans and non-humans. The human experience begins to become decentralized. This understanding recognizes that relational phenomena, not objects or things, comprise the foundation of our universe, allowing us to reform ideas of the individual and change our relationship to the world. Barad speaks to how reforming ideas through embracing intra-activity can alter the role of the human while still acknowledging the ways in which humans are entangled and intrinsically a part of nature:
On an agential realist account, it is once again possible to acknowledge nature, the body, and materiality in the fullness of their becoming without resorting to the optics of transparency or opacity, the geometries of absolute exteriority or interiority, and the theoretization of the human as either pure cause or pure effect while at the same time remaining resolutely accountable for the role “we” play in the intertwined practices of knowing and becoming. 812)
When there is no absolute exteriority or interiority and beginnings and endings become malleable and cyclical, there is increased room for wonder and discovery. When we allow ourselves to recognize that we are not individuals, but also non-human collections of boundaryless cells, how much more empathy and understanding are we able to extend to those who we have othered? If we decentralize the bounded, individualized human, other things will be repositioned and take on more importance and agency. It is within this place of questioning and repositioning that I make my work. By acknowledging that matter is not passive, I ask in what ways matter around me be altered and changed through decentralizing human existence? How might my role as human and artist become more equal to the role of the materials involved in this partnership?
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COLLECTIONS OF BOUNDARYLESS CELLS
Karen Barad decouples from capitalism, proposing the theory of intra-action, which counters the idea that the universe is founded on individual matter as opposed to matter in relationship with another. Intra-action posits that agency (the ability to act) comes from human and non-human actants in relationship with each other. Barad’s theory is based on the research of Nobel physicist Niels Bohr, who believed that “things do not have inherently determinate boundaries or properties, and words do not have inherently determinate meanings'' (813). If things have no determinate boundaries, we cannot uphold a culture of strict dichotomies in which humans and nature are pitted against one another. Accepting Bohr’s findings, it becomes possible to envision a world where there is no dichotomy or hierarchy between humans and non-humans. The human experience begins to become decentralized. This understanding recognizes that relational phenomena, not objects or things, comprise the foundation of our universe, allowing us to reform ideas of the individual and change our relationship to the world. Barad speaks to how reforming ideas through embracing intra-activity can alter the role of the human while still acknowledging the ways in which humans are entangled and intrinsically a part of nature:
On an agential realist account, it is once again possible to acknowledge nature, the body, and materiality in the fullness of their becoming without resorting to the optics of transparency or opacity, the geometries of absolute exteriority or interiority, and the theoretization of the human as either pure cause or pure effect while at the same time remaining resolutely accountable for the role “we” play in the intertwined practices of knowing and becoming. 812)
When there is no absolute exteriority or interiority and beginnings and endings become malleable and cyclical, there is increased room for wonder and discovery. When we allow ourselves to recognize that we are not individuals, but also non-human collections of boundaryless cells, how much more empathy and understanding are we able to extend to those who we have othered? If we decentralize the bounded, individualized human, other things will be repositioned and take on more importance and agency. It is within this place of questioning and repositioning that I make my work. By acknowledging that matter is not passive, I ask in what ways matter around me be altered and changed through decentralizing human existence? How might my role as human and artist become more equal to the role of the materials involved in this partnership?
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